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This study was conducted in order to identify nurses' roles in the Savar Building Collapse tradegy, which occurred in Bangladesh in 2013.
A survey was conducted of 15 nurses who attended the disaster, using an open ended questionnaire.
The full article is available here.
The study found that nurses' roles included
- rendering first aid treatment,
- oxygen
- assisting doctors during emergency operation
- sorting out the seriously injured cases and referring them to appropriate specialized hospitals/units for better treatment
- administering the prescribed medicine
- blood transfusion
- intravenous infusion
- providing drinking water and convenient dry food
- continuous monitoring and recording the patients’ conditions
- communication with patients relatives
- changing dressing
Out of 15 participants only 5 participated in the rescue operation team where they performed their responsibilities by giving first aid, assisting the doctors’ during emergency operation, administering life saving medicine, intravenous infusion, providing oxygen and dry food. In the critical cases they performed CPR. On the spot of the incident they triaged the casualties and provided necessary nursing and medical intervention.
Based on findings from the study, it is suggested that nurses need to be trained in disaster management. Many of the participants suggested that nurses should be involved in plan and policy making. Most of the participants put their opinion that nurses should be involved in disaster related workshop, seminar, conference to increase their awareness and capacity building for handing the disaster affected people effectively. It is also recommended that it is important to ensure availability of resources especially funding and other facilities like accommodation, transport, food, safety and security for the nurses who will serve the affected people during disaster period.
